?How are the kids doing"? is a question whose answer depends on where one lives. In British Columbia, before classrooms reopened, the rate of infection for those under 10 years of age stayed below that of older residents, though all rates were rising, according to the BC COVID-19 Modelling Group. The panel warned that children under 12 not yet eligible for inoculation make up nearly half of the unvaccinated population in the province, making them a large risk group, especially as they have high numbers of contacts.
On Sept. 8, the day after school began, the under-10 rate of new cases per 100,000 population exploded in a sharp upward trajectory while the rate for those 10-and-older stayed pretty much flat. By the end of the month, the rate of COVID-19 among unvaccinated children was more than double that of older residents. In neighbouring Alberta, data was harder to obtain as the province restarted reporting data on COVID in the classroom just before Thanksgiving. By then, 54 schools reported outbreaks (10 or more cases) and a total of 756 of the 2,400 schools in the province had at least two cases. The situation also isn?t good in New Brunswick, which reintroduced masks in schools by mid-September and where rising case counts forced more than a dozen schools to shift to online learning a week ago.
The number of students contracting COVID-19 in Alberta, B.C. and other hotspots highlights a pressing worry for both parents and decision-makers: children are n...